Just bring up the topic of public evangelism in a church board or business meeting sometime, and you might generate an interesting and passionate discussion. On one hand, there will be people who are extremely supportive of public evangelism and believe that every church should conduct 1 or 2 meetings every year. They can trace their baptism and conversion experience to a past prophecy seminar that completely changed their lives. And as a result, they are under the conviction that there are many people just like themselves out there who need to be reached and are waiting for a revelation of truth.
However, on the other hand, there is a growing number of people within the church who take the opposite stand. (Actually, I don’t know if it’s growing, but sometimes it seems like it). They believe public evangelistic meetings and prophecy seminars are an antiquated form of outreach that is no longer relevant in our modern world. It had is hay-day 40-50 years ago, but the world is different now and it is not effective anymore. The results are not the same as in years past. They believe that public evangelism should be placed in a casket and buried in the ground like a corpse in a funeral procession.
So here’s the question. Which side of the fence are you on? Are you for or against public evangelistic meetings and prophecy seminars? Do you think it is still relevant and effective? Or do you think it is no longer viable and the church should stop conducting them?
Over the next few weeks, let’s use this blog as an avenue to discuss the issues. Let’s take a look at some of the reasons why people think that public evangelism isn’t important anymore. Please take this as an opportunity to express your opinion no matter what side of fence you are on.
As we pursue this subject it won’t be hard to figure out which side of the fence I’m on. After all, I am an evangelist.
Next week, we will begin looking at reason # 1. Sign up for the blog and join the discussion.
I think public evangelism is still useful but should not be thought of as the only possible tool for outreach. Public evangelism requires careful preparation and thought, assessment of felt needs in the community and training for leaders and volunteers. It is also necessary to plan for follow-up with those who come. Those who are involved should be those who are equipped and confident in sharing their faith with others yet sensitive, culturally relevant, flexible and good listeners…
J.O., you are right. Public evangelism is certainly not the only form of evangelism and should not be the only tool a church uses. Quality evangelistic meetings require good preparation to garner interests. And follow up is key. There are many people not ready for baptism when the 5 weeks of a meeting are over, but yet are stil interested in exploring the truths they have discovered. If a church has a good follow up program, some of those interests will make decisions 3-6 months down the road. Personal and public evangelism work together. They should never be separated. Hey J.O., thanks for sharing. I look forward to more of your comments. Sign up to recieve updates on new posts.
I’m all for “public evangelism,” if that’s what you want to call it. I was recently invited to a Revelation Reveals seminar and to me it was an opportunity to reinforce my knowledge of Revelations. I had no idea that the seminar was a tool that the 7th Day Adventists used to gather flock. In fact, I’d never even heard of 7th Day Adventists. However, I’m grateful that there are those who still believe in public evangelism. If there weren’t, I’d still be a Christian sitting in my house wondering where I belonged and not doing a good job of leading my family.
The last church I went to was HUGE and spectacular, but I never made lasting connections with them because they didn’t have a traditional Bible school. Rather, they had different groups for women, men, children, alcoholism, over eaters, divorce, retirement home visits, basketball, etc., etc. The classes were all wonderful, but I need is The Holy Bible… good ol’ fashion Bible study. I have found exactly what I need at Central SDA.
So in a nutshell, maybe public evangelism doesn’t gather as many sheep as it used to, but… I’m GREATFUL it gathered this ewe. And, I know God is thrilled… even if it is just one sheep at a time. THANK YOU GOD!
Thanks Sam. Your comments are very valuable. I will always remember your smiling face and eagerness for God’s Word during the meetings. You have first hand experience as to how public evangelism touches people’s lives. Yes, we tend to call in “public” evangelism because it is done in such a public way that we invite people by doing advertising and many times have a neutral meeting place so people feel comfortable. But whatever one calls it, it is simply sharing God’s truths in a way where everyone is invited. I’m glad God has done, is doing, a work in your life. I look forward to seeing how God will continue to lead you and use you.
Important questions, David–vital for the church to be discussing. To me (and I think to you as well), public evangelism vs other community activities is not a matter of “either/or” but of “both/and.” You are one of the few people I know who have had real success in public evangelism (without spending a ton of $)–and there are reasons for this, which I know you’ll be sharing in this important series of blog posts that you are starting here. To summarize my own convictions: to have public meetings that work, you have to get people to attend. However that is accomplished is a key to success, obviously. I think that the various activities itemized in the previous comment here by Sam are all valid–as long as we take people into the Word of God and show them how each of our doctrines not only is biblical but also makes sense, shows us Jesus and meets a need in our lives–primarily our souls.
I know you’ll be going over these in the Equipping University next weekend in St. Louis, and I encourage everyone who is able to attend to do so. David’s article “Equipping University” found elsewhere on this website explains how to register.
Martin Weber
Martin
Thanks Martin. You are very kind. You are right that public evangelism works best when it is used in combination with other forms of personal evagnelism. It is not either, or. It is not a competition to see if personal evangelism is better than public evangelism. They both work together. Which one you use more extensively may have a lot to do with where you— big city, small city, rural, metro, etc. Thank you also for your affirmation of Equipping University. I can send a half page info sheet to anyone who wants to know more about it or attend. You can also visit the West County church website at http://www.wcstlsda.org and scroll down to find Equipping University– some of the best lay training a member will ever recieve. We are excited to begin this 3 year process in St Louis.
O, and you are right, you don’t have to spend a ton of $$$$ in public evangelism to get a crowd. How much a church has to spend, will depend a lot on the quality of preparation. If they’ve been working their community building relationships and gathering interests and doing Bible studies, then they already have their crowd and won’t need to spend thousands of $$$$ on advertising. But if they do no pre-work, then yes, it will cost a lot to get a crowd.
David, thanks for opening up the question. Traditional public evangelism definitely works and works well. Attendance is of course a factor. From what I have seen, the determining factor in whether or not attendance at an evangelism campaign will be high or low, is often beyond the control of the evangelist.
The spiritual condition of the local church that sponsors the campaign has more to do with both attendance and harvest than the amount of money spent, the quality of handbills used, or even the quality and talents of the evangelist.
The spiritual conditions in a number of churches is such that the Holy Spirit will not bless with either large attendance or large harvest regardless of how much effort is expended. The people are often blinded by their own spiritual condition and fail to see that the problem is not with traditional evangelism but rather something much closer to home.
When a church is active and spiritually healthy, a campaign with a very low budget and a speaker with little experience can have good success because of the blessings of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is everything in evangelism and we must be diligent to be sure that nothing is blocking the blessings of God in our efforts.
May God grant that we may cling to Him for strength and power in our own spiritual lives as we labor to lift up the fallen humanity of the globe.
Wes, I could not have said it any better. Thank you for your keen insight. It all goes back to our personal relationship with Christ– both the members of the church, and even the evangelist’s relationship with Jesus. A high powered seasoned evangelist is a good thing, but no guarantee of a harvest. God can just as easy use the average lay person who is fully committed to Him working with a church fully committed to Him.
Your words speak to me. Sometimes I can get so caught in the mechanics of preparing for a meeting, that I forget to prepare my own heart and nurture my own relationship with Jesus. I trust I’m probably not the only one who falls into that trap. Thanks for your well spoken words. I hope you will continue to comment on this blog.
As I read the book Acts of the Apostles in the chapter titled “Corinth”, I realize that even the apostle Paul faced dissapointment and discouragement. Just as he was ready to leave that field and go to another the Lord instructed him saying “Do not be afraid but speak and hold not thy peace, for I am with you, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city”. I personally have held several seminars including four overseas. I have seen the power of the Holy Spirit in these meetings. Jesus instructed us to “Go”. Let’s let the results up to Him.
Tom, you are right. Sometimes we must just speak. The results are always in God’s hands. Though I do think that when a church prepares and has faithfully sown sowns, it will open up a much greater door for the Holy Spirit to work– which will then result in greater reaping. The greatest challenge is getting churches to sow.
We desperately need a revival. If you have prophecy seminars or public evangelistic meetings, it doesn’t matter. People need to hear the truth as they are only hearing pieces of the truth.
Yes, Robbie, we do need revival, including ourselves. I think if I understand you comment, you are saying that any form of public evangelism is good because there are people out there who need to know truth. Is that right?
I definitely believe that public evangelism is a great tool. That is how I found our local SDA church. I am oine of those that was not ready for baptism right after the series was over. In fact, it took our wonderful pastor almost 2 years to get me to baptism. I am going to be baptized as soon as I finish the baptismal classes I am attending at this time. I never liked organized religion and I am a person who finds as much information as I can before I give in to anything. Unfortunately for me, it took the death of my husband for me to come fully to the Lord. I am lucky enough that our pastor has lots of patience and didn’t just give up on me. He and his wife was there for me when I need them the most, right after my yhusband’s death. I think there should be more series done and much more public outreach.
You are right Elaine. Thank you for your post. It does take some people longer to make that adjustment in their life. I know that if it were me, it would take me more than 4-5 weeks. My wife’s family took almost 4 years to fully make that step. Of course, I am not saying we should shuffle our feet when we are truly under conviction, but staying in touch with people and continuing to befriend them and build relationships is a big part of evangelism. Thanks for sharing.
Hey Pastor Klinedinst. Here is my take on this topic. I definately believe there’s still a place for historical Adventist evangelism; however, I also believe there is room for “innovation” (forgive me I’m a tech geek) even in a field like evangelism. That might sound somewhat scary to many people because the principles we as Adventists believe in should not change yet methods used to evangelize must adapt (thus change to a degree) to reach out to people in the most effective way possible. Using the tools of Technology (like this blog), social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter, Tiny Chat and a host of other Internet powered solutions is great way IMHO to combine the old with the new all to the glory of God. As always, it’s good to hear from you. GBY and the Central family.
Rodney,
You are correct. There are many ways to evangelize and we should not put all our eggs in one basket. Technology is a great way to plant the seeds to many people with minimal cost. However nothing should take the place of personal contact and ministry. That will always be needed and never go out of sytle, so to speak. Traditional public evangelism should always be combined with personal ministry and other forms of evangelism, including technology. They are work hand in hand. In this next meeting, we have used a QR code on the handbill for the first time and we are using an interactive website with a video clip introduction to the seminar. That’s probably nothing complicated for technology guru, but it is step forward for us in using media. I’m sure glad there are people in the church with your gifts (-: By the way, the meeting website is http://www.discoverprophecyseminar.net.
Thanks for commenting.